"I can't put up any kind of an argument. All I can say is I don't see how any one like you could do it, Miss Rhoda! Just think! His folks is Injuns, dirty, blanket Injuns! They scratch themselves from one day's end to the other. They will be your relatives, too! They'll be hanging round you all the time. I'm not a married man but I've noticed when you marry a man you generally marry his whole darn family. I--I--oh, there's no use talking to her! Let's take her away by force, Jack!" Rhoda caught her breath and instinctively moved toward Kut-le. But Jack did not stir. "No," he answered; "I've done all the chasing and trying to kidnap that I care about. But, Rhoda, once and for all I tell you that I think you are doing you and yours a deadly wrong!" "Perhaps I am," replied Rhoda steadily. "I make no pretense of knowing. At any rate, I'm going to stay with Kut-le." "For heaven's sake, Rhoda," cried Jack, "at least come back to the ranch and let Katherine give you a wedding. She'll never forgive me for leaving you this way!" Porter turned on Jack savagely. "Look here!" he shouted. "Are you crazy too! You're talking about her _marrying_ this Apache!" Jack spoke through his teeth obstinately. "I've sweated blood over this thing as long as I propose to. If Rhoda wants to marry Kut-le, that's her business. I always did like Kut-le and I always shall. I've done my full duty in trying to get Rhoda back. Now that she says that she cares for him, it's neither your nor my business--nor DeWitt's. But I want them to come back to the ranch with me and let Katherine give them a nice wedding." "But--but--" spluttered Porter. Then he stopped as the good sense of Jack's attitude suddenly came home to him. "All right," he said sullenly. "I'm like DeWitt. I pass. Only--if you try to take this Injun back to the ranch, he'll never get there alive. He'll be lynched by the first bunch of cowboys or miners we strike. Miss Rhoda nor you can't stop 'em. You want to remember how the whole country is worked up over this!" Rhoda whitened. "Do you think that too, Jack and Kut-le?" For the first time, Jack spoke to Kut-le. "What do you think, Kut-le?" he said. "Porter's right, of course," answered Kut-le. "My plan always has been to slip down into Mexico and then go to Paris for a year or two. I've got enough money for that. I've always wanted to do some work in the Sorbonne. By the end of two years I think the Southwest will be willing to welcome us back." Nothing could have so simplified the situation as Kut-le's calm reference to his plans for carrying on his profession. He stood in his well-cut clothes, not an Indian, but a well-bred, clean-cut man of the world. Even Porter recognized this, and with a sigh he resigned himself to the inevitable. "You folks better come down to the monastery and be married," he said. "There's a padre down there." "Gee! What'll I say to Katherine!" groaned Jack.